Taylor Giagnacovo
Buddha Scriptures
PHR-127-001
April 29, 2014
The Origin and Significance of the Jizo Bodhisattva
The symbol of Jizo Bodhisattva signifies the savior of suffering and it was a patron of lost children. He rescues beings from Hell and relieves their suffering. Jizo Bodhisattva was an important figure to Japans ethos, and perhaps one of the most beloved figures in Buddhism. The figure is represented cartoon-like in a way that it is not frightening especially for children. The jewel represented in the statue bestows consecrations on those who suffer, grants aspirations, appeases desire, and brings an understanding of the Dharma.
Jizo originated in India, but it is widely known in Japan, Korea, and China. In Japan, Jizo’s popularity grew in 710-794 AD. Not being able to depict whether Jizo was male or female did not last long. It was adopted in Japan that Jizo represents a man, after the idea that Jizo was a woman.
Jizo strived to redeem all beings, which went to hell, and prevent beings from rebirth. In many Buddha customs, everyone deserves a chance to do things right regardless of their Dharma. In Buddha traditions not one person is idled out, we are all “one” and do not exist as separate beings. Therefore, Jizo tried to guide beings onto the right path. Along with being a savior to those in hell, he protected the lost children and sheltered the vulnerable children who might be frenzied by the events of a short life and quick death.
“In the West, we think of each human life as solid and discrete, beginning at conception and ending at death. The Buddhist view is of waves appearing and disappearing endlessly on a great ocean of life energy. When cause and effect combine in a certain way, a wave arises, appearing...
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...ssion of Jizo Ceremony. This is where people confess the guilt they gained over the faults they made during the year in hopes to get rid of bad Dharma. They pray that Jizo will bestow them permanence and continue to protect their children. This is related to confession in the Catholic traditions. “In some vicinities, children believe that tapping their forehead against the beads will bring them luck.” (Schumacher) In many areas, children are allowed to paint the faces of the statues or dress them in new red hats and robes. Red lanterns are hung at Jizo memorials and youths eat red-colored food. This is a fun but also regaining time for many people and children. It gives adults the opportunity to try and make up for what they did and being aware in the present moment. It also allows children to participate in an event of actions of kindness, games, festivities, etc.
In 400 B.C., the Buddhist religion were written the stories that teach moral values for the humankind, and it's called Jataka tales. This is the most important Buddhist literature, and it has 500 Buddhist fables. Jataka tales are about Buddhist religion that tell tales of the Buddha’s past lives before he become the enlightened. In the beginning, the Jataka Buddhist tales were written in the Pali language, but later it was translated into many languages. The most important goal of Buddhism is to teach good lessons about Dharma and karma that could help people to escape the karmic cycle and reach nirvana. These tales have specific symbol and specific character that represent the Buddhist religion, therefore I am really intrigued by these tales,
The Art Institute of Chicago houses a sculpture that epitomizes Shingon Buddhism in Japan. Born from an influence of Chinese esoteric Buddhism and the Indian God Shiva, the deity Fudo Myo-o, or “The Immovable One”, is one of the most important figures in Japanese Buddhism. The deity first appears in the Heian Period during the ninth century and is made to help followers of Buddhism with any adversity faced. During the Kamakura Period from the 12th-14th centuries the figure of this guardian king developed into a more realistic sculptural form. Fudo Myo-o is unique to the Shingon Buddhism of Japan with qualities that distinguish him from most any other deity, qualities that embody his vicious compassion, wisdom, and wrath.
In The Heart of Understanding, Thich Nhat Hanh’s uses simple but powerful words and real world examples to illustrate the profound Buddhist philosophy from the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra, an important representative of Mahayana Buddhist literature. The Mahayana school of Buddhist teachings emphasizes the doctrine of Sunyata- emptiness. The doctrine of emptiness, one of the most important Mahayana innovations, focuses on the relational aspect of existence. Thich Nhat Hanh coins and introduces a new word- interbeing to explain the state of emptiness. This idea of interbeing not only illustrates emptiness well but also provides understanding of other fundamental Buddhist ideas such as No-Self, impermanence and non-duality.
Sesshu Toyo’s art was often landscapes like other Zen Buddhist artists. One of his most notable masterpieces is the Painting of Juro. Juro often referred to as Jurojin, is known to represent the god of longevity and good fortune. While he is known to be a Chinese Taoist god, in Japan he became popular as one of the “Seven Gods of Good Fortune” and eventually became a Zen Buddhist god. It is believed by some that he may have been an actual historical figure of the Northern Song dynasty from China. This painting is executed in light colors on silk measures and ink. Written on the upper right corner is a one-line inscription by the artist: “Painted by Sesshu at the age of eighty-three years” which corresponds with the year 1502. This painting is presently considered to be his last known work. Sesshu depicted the white-haired Juro in a posture of repose. His head and shoulders are tilted slightly forward, his face seen in three-quarter view, and the gaze is faced pensively downward. In Juro’s hand he holds a scepter and around the upper portion of his body a luminous halo is seen. Juro sits somewhat sideways with one foot resting on a rock and the other on the ground, wearing a robe, while a gauze veil covers his head and shoulders. Between Juro’s feet, partly behind a rock, appears to be a wide sash with a small ornament at the tip as two ends of a scarf fall curling around the ground. Near the rock’s edge on the right stands a sennin, also known as an attendant, or Taoist immortal who is offering fungus to the deity. Juro is accompanied by animals associated with longevity: a white deer, a red-headed crane, and a small turtle that is creeping from behind one of the curled scarf ends. The bamboo that surround Juro in this masterpiece represent good fortune and longevity to the Japanese culture because of their ability to proliferate and grow in the most adverse
This paper is a comparison between two very different religions. Specifically Christianity and Buddhism. Coming from opposite sides of the globe these two religions could not be any farther apart in any aspect. I will discuss who Christ is for Christians and who Buddha is for Buddhists. I will also get into the aspects of charity, love, and compassion in both religions and I will be looking at the individual self and how christians see resurrection where the buddhists feel about the afterlife. One thing to keep in mind is that the two religions are very different but they seem to have a very similar underlying pattern. Both believe that there was a savior of their people, Buddha and Christ, and both believe that there is something good that happens to us when our time is done here on earth. This is a very generalized summarization but in order to go in to depth I need to explain the two religions more to fully convey this theory.
This sculpture of Fudo Myoo was created during the Heian period and is housed at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Fudo was a Buddhist deity. He is depicted here holding a sword and a rope, and wearing a very angry expression. According to the Asian Art Museum’s website, Fudo was intended to protect Buddhists. In “History of Japan”, Perez states that by the time Buddhism made its way to Japan, it had evolved so that it was no longer a religion where “salvation [. . .] could be accomplished independently”, but rather a religion guided by “holy men”. (“History of Japan”: 17) As Buddhism was now more “complex”, people did not need to rely on their own actions to save them, as they now had leaders and deities to protect them. Fudo’s
Throughout the history of humankind, man has always searched to find answers to the many existential questions. Numerous different religions and denominations have developed around the world over time. Though, most wonder about the origin and purpose of our existence. Buddhism was founded on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama about 2,600 years ago in India. After he had experienced that everyone was subject to “birth, sickness, death, and old age”, he tried to find a way to break from the cycle of rebirth (Bloom).
Western psychology is concerned with the investigation of understanding the negative aspects of human behavior, emotions and the mind, and to some extent, with changing them. The Buddhist approach to the investigation of the mind is unscientific, as defined by the science of Western Psychology. It is not concerned with laboratory conditions, control groups, or ‘objectivity’ in the sense of the experimenter being separate from and impartial to the subject (Nettle, 2005). In Buddhism, the person conducting the experiment and the subject are the same. Buddhists seek truth, as do scientists. Science, for the most part, sees the world as something external, which can be observed and understood as truth. Psychology involves understanding the human experience through the study of the mind and how perception governs behavior. Buddhism sees perception as internal and of one’s experience of the outside world as a fundamental part of understanding the truth within our self.
In the western world, a dominant belief is that after life, a person’s soul is sent to a place of eternal bliss, heaven, or a place of eternal damnation, hell. To Buddhists, this concept is not the norm. Buddhists believe that a person is reincarnated into another life form, either human or animal. What life form a person is reincarnated as is determined by the person’s karma. The concept of karma not only affects reincarnation, but also what path a person’s life takes. While much of the concept of karma is believable and comprehensible by a person of any denomination, some aspects are dependant upon a belief in reincarnation and that a person will eventually be punished for his sins or rewarded for his good deeds, whether in this life or the next. At the same time, in order to believe in how reincarnation works, a person must understand the idea of karma.
Masashi Kishimoto 's Naruto is a manga/anime that was published in 1997 and has since been very popular in Japanese culture. Masashi Kishimoto is a Buddhist manga writer and through his work of Naruto was able to incorporate Buddhist values and characteristics to the manga/anime. Buddhism is what helped form the creation of Naruto. By doing this, Kishimoto wanted to make an impact on Japanese culture by reviving the lost interest in Buddhism. Just like many other Buddhist 's, Kishimoto wanted to change the way the Japanese youth perceived religion, and he was able to accomplish that in a secretive way. I will argue that the mange/anime Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto is culturally significant to Japanese culture due to its religious connection
“Why the Bodhisattva Works Alone was a great introduction into world religions. The bodhisattva is a person that attains enlightenment. The will to act alone was one of the key ideas I took from the excerpt. The Bodhisattva took the things he learned and tried to save others from the corrupted world. Journeying out to help other obtain peace, to someday become enlightened. The tradition strongly emphasized was suffering. She stated all creatures are in pain, all suffer from bad hindering and karma. I felt that was his whole purpose of moving alone.
"What is Buddhism? | The Buddhist Centre." What is Buddhism? | The Buddhist Centre. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. .
The Earliest Tales of the Bodhisattva Guanshiyin – Tale 7 When Han Dang was riding a boat across the Hutuo River, his boat submerged in midstream due to huge waves. He called out the name of Guanshiyin for help. After calling Guanshiyin’s name, Han Dang saw a white creature swimming in the water; dragon. Within seconds, the strong current came to a stop and the wind ceased. As the water only reached up to his knees, he was able to sail back to the sandy bank.
Birth, Death, and Rebirth: Sky Burial and the Cyclical Cosmos of Tibetan Buddhism. n.d. University of Missouri. Web. 2014 February 2014.
The other source has been Puranas which are eighteen in number and contains information about the creation and dynasties of god, sages and kings and detailed description of yugas. All the sources are on the same footstep and no one has supremacy over the other.